Rhyme Time People

It was New York, it was the 1980s, and hip-hop - the most important youth and music culture since rock 'n' roll - was being born. It came from some of the city's poorest districts, which were abuzz with a new kind of confidence. There to capture the noises, the sounds, the good, the bad, and, of course, the undeniably cool look of the time was photographer and Brooklyn native Jamel Shabazz

Great photography captures the spirit of the times, and places you right in the middle of an experience. When the visual is right, you can sense the smells, sounds, tastes and textures. It will remind you of how things used to be. Indeed, the photographs in Back In The Days take me back to the 1980s, to the faces that inspired me and to the people I grew up with. They look like we looked, dress like we dressed, and pose like we posed. These were my friends, heroes, and contemporaries. These are the faces of the generation that gave birth to hip-hop - not only the most dominant and inclusive youth culture in history, but also the most stylishly innovative and consistently advanced generation since the rock'n'roll era.

If, among the many emotions you feel while viewing these photos, cool comes to mind, here's why - back then, cool was all about having the right flavour and savoir faire . Such a style blended a certain brand of rebelliousness with a casual nonchalance. It was a cocky confidence that was meticulously updated by a perpetual pursuit of an alternative, yet distinctive, sensibility. Cool permeated the scene. Kool Herc, LL Cool J, Kool Rock Ski and Kool Moe Dee were but a few of the countless numbers who added the word cool to their street, graffiti, DJ, MC, and break-dancer names. But cool back then went beyond the Kangols, Adidas, gold chains, monikers. It went much deeper. It wasn't about being in a fashion show, going double platinum, or selling the next urban brand. Cool was about survival. It was about strength, pride, courage, and a fierce love for self.

What is cool? Robert Farris Thompson writes in his 1983 book Flash Of The Spirit that cool originated in Nigeria in the first half of the 15th century. Ewure was the name given to a ruler crowned king of the Nigerian Empire of Benin. At the time, the word literally meant, "it is cool". Thompson writes that Nigerian civilisation was impressive not only for its urban density, refinement and complexity, but also for the inner momentum of conviction and poise they maintained in the face of ongoing political oppression, not unlike the will of those featured in Jamel Shabazz's work.

The images here illustrate the masks of strength or the "cool pose" that Richard Majors and Janet Mancini Billson discuss in their landmark 1992 book of the same title. In Cool Pose, they bring the definition of cool up to date. The "cool pose", they write, "is a ritualised form of masculinity that entails behaviour, scripts, physical posturing, impression management, and carefully crafted performances that deliver a single critical message: pride, strength and control". They say that by acting calm, emotionless, fearless, aloof and tough, the African-American male shows both the dominant culture and the black male himself that he is strong and proud. He is a survivor in spite of the systematic harm done by the legacy of slavery and the realities of racial oppression or the centuries of hardships and mistrust. The cool pose was a way for many young brothers to defend themselves against the indignities and inequities of ghetto life.

There was also a political aspect to cool that came out of the monumental struggle for racial justice and equality: the era when black had officially become beautiful, the Afro hairdo, the soul brother handshake, the Superfly Mack Daddy Shaft style and many other things African. Cool was also defined by the revolutionary icons of the Black Panthers such as Huey Newton and Stokely Carmichael. When this militant movement was brought down by the FBI in the late 1960s and early 1970s, drug dealers and gangstas were seemingly given free rein to become the new inspiration in cities like New York, LA and Chicago. These events were heavily televised, and provided the political and social backdrop for Shabazz's pictures.

At about this time, a cultural revolution, later to be defined as hip-hop, was taking shape. Many of those gangstas in New York City delved into this new cool form of urban social activity. This became a defining part of the hip-hop culture. Run-DMC's proclamation in their debut single, Sucker MCs, of how they "chill at a party in a b-boy stance" became one of the many lyrics that helped explain the movement to others. Brothers don't stand like that any more. The styles have changed but that hard rock icy cool pose is still in effect.

Shabazz captures the energy, pride and attitude that gave birth to hip-hop. He lets us see the spirit of the early MCs who would holler, "Wave your hand in the air, and act like you just don't care!" at every party, and the people that participated in the now legendary street jams where DJs such as Grandmaster Flowers (the first hip-hop grandmaster), Pete DJ Jones, Grand Wizard Theodore, Afrika Bambaataa, Master D, Divine Sounds, the Disco Twins and countless others tapped into street lamps for power and rocked in the city's parks through long, hot summer nights. Shabazz seizes the moment when the 007 knife became the 9mm automatic pistol. When black became "urban" - a verbal loophole for corporations to market black style, music, and attitude and not call it "black".

There's a soundtrack to these photos. It includes the best of James Brown, Kool And The Gang, George Clinton, Rick James, the Philly sounds of Gamble and Huff, Harold Melvin, Teddy Pendergrass, Gil Scott-Heron and a song appropriately titled Love Is The Message by Philly's MFSB that bridged the transition from disco to the beginnings of hip-hop. One of the unsung fathers of the transition is the late Frankie "Hollywood" Crocker from New York's WBLS FM - then every cool person's favourite radio station. That's what's coming out of those big bad ghetto blasters in several of the photos.

A few of Shabazz's subjects are lambs - soft, young and innocent. But most are lions and tigers, sharks and eagles, commanding and controlling every inch of space they occupy. Shabazz also gives us an insight into a generation that took the bait called crack-cocaine, which emerged in the early 1980s, a deliverance deceptively packaged with razor-sharp hooks designed to mutilate, shred, destroy and imprison. Hence, a good portion of those featured in this book languish behind the walls of the US prison industrial complex.

Jamel Shabazz was born and brought up in Brooklyn in the early 1960s. His passion for photography and love for his people led him into the soul of New York City's warriors, generals, warlords, pirates, queens and victims revealing their classic Afro-modern style. Just as Shabazz observed his subjects, he was also at one with them. "Excuse me, brother, may I take your picture?" would be his opening line. If any apprehension arose, he would whip out an album of his work, showing them how wonderful they would look and promising to send a print. If they agreed, he'd take pictures and they would talk about life over a quart of orange juice.

Shabazz's friends were eager participants in his developing craft. They would chip in for beer and also take up a collection for film. In return, they added pictures to their now growing photo albums. Shabazz travelled to various popular high schools in Brooklyn, all the while making friends and influencing people. Then he hit downtown Brooklyn's Fulton Street, a shopping mecca and hangout for the borough's stylish denizens. Bigger leaps would take him across the Brooklyn Bridge to Delancey Street on the Lower East Side and then 42nd Street in Times Square where he was now photographing the flavours from the five boroughs and beyond.

His approach to photography was a lot like that of his peers caught up in the graffiti wave at the time. His major satisfaction was continuing with what he called his "visual diary". The thrill of waiting for a new roll of film to develop was akin to his graffiti-writing homies awaiting the freshly painted trains to zip into the station with their latest work for all to see. Photography offered a way for him to reach out, touch and influence people. He noticed that the conversations he had with his subjects were having a positive effect. Some would thank him for the time, insight, encouragement, and inspiration. "Because of you I took the test for a civil servant job, and got it." "Because of you, I went back to school and got my degree." "Because of you, I realised that a life of crime will lead me nowhere and it's time to stop falling victim to that trap laid for blacks and Latinos."

Now, at the dawn of this new millennium, California's notorious Bloods and Crips gangs have taken root in some of New York's poorest communities. While not yet as deadly as their Californian counterparts, Shabazz feels a need to take his cameras to this new battle front and reach out to "generation next". Many of them are lost and angry, desperate and dangerous. Most, now in their teens and early 20s, are the sons and daughters of people just like the ones you see here, the offspring of young parents trapped in a downward spiral flushed by the system into a shitty abyss.

Only Jamel Shabazz could have taken these pictures. A man not just obsessed with the wonders and science of photography, but a man in love with his people. Some of these individuals, frozen by his lens, were the most feared, loved, and respected in the borough of Brooklyn and beyond. Shabazz smoothly won them over with his honesty, sincerity, and some orange juice. "Yes, capture my glorious flavour on film so my magnificent image can carry on." Thanks to Jamel Shabazz, this flavour will live on. And always be cool

Back In The Days, photographs by Jamel Shabazz, with text by Fab 5 Freddy, is published by Powerhouse Books at £27.50. Jamel Shabazz's photographs can be viewed at an exhibition at the Dazed & Confused Gallery, 112-116 Old Street, London E1, until May 24.